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High Tunnels and Soil HealthConnecting the Parts
Disclaimer:The Menoken Farm high tunnel was purchased without programmatic funding sources.Various program and grant funding sources have requirements to meet. Always review the requirements to assure your future high tunnel would be compatible.
Construction
Clearing The Site and Starting Construction
High Tunnel Dimensions48’ long x 24’ wide x 11‘ high
Custom Ends
Ready for the Plastic Covering
Wiggle Wire
Planting Options
Planting on the Ground
Length 10’Width 3’Depth 1’
Length 9.5’Width 2’Depth 1.5’
Shade Option
50% Shade Option
Water Quantity
First Irrigation AttemptUnderground Soaker HoseIt Failed!
Second Irrigation AttemptOverhead Sprinkler SystemIt Failed!!
Third Irrigation AttemptDrip Line Placed Just underthe Shredded Wood Mulch.
It Is Successful!
Water Quality
Minnesota Valley Testing Laboratories – Water Test
Total Dissolved Solids 2290 mq/LRec Level <480 mq/L
Sodium 680 mq/LRec Level <70 mq/L
Rec Levels: Knott’s Handbook for Vegetable Growers, Fifth Edition
Compost Quality
Montana State University – Bozeman, MTCompost Test
Picloran (Tordon)Broadleaf weed control contamination in compost.
Prior to using compost, always use small containers to plant beans and peas. If they do well, all plants will likely do well.
Making Static Compost
Static Compost
Shredded Wood
Spring Planting
Smothering the Cereal Rye
Insects
Row CoverCabbage, Broccoli and Thyme
Under the Row Cover
Crops
Onion Bush Beans
Tomatoes
Lettuce Basil, Cilantro and Okra
Okra
Sweet Potato Red Beets
Peppers
Peppers in the Rye
Nutrient Management
Long Term Fertility = Wood Mulch
Short Term Fertility = Coffee Grounds and Fish Emulsion.
Future Nutrient ManagementMicrobiome Digesters
Cover Crops
Cover Crops are Essential:
• Build Soil Aggregates.
• Improve Infiltration.
• Brings Carbon into the Soil.
• Offsets Soil Mineralization withCatch and Release of Inorganic Nutrients.
• Evaporation vs Transpiration
Cereal Rye, Phacelia, and Brassica
High TunnelsEducating and Empowering People to Feed Themselves.
Self Education• A Soil Owner’s Manual: by Jon Stika
• Growing A Revolution: by David Montgomery
• Dirt to Soil: by Gabe Brown
• Forty Chances: by Howard Buffett
• Humus Chemistry: by F.J. Stevenson
• Soil Microbiology, Ecology, and Biochemistry: by Eldor Paul
• The Soil Will Save Us: by Kristin Ohlson
• The Nature and Properties of Soils – 14th Edition : by Brady and Weil
• Journals of Lewis and Clark
• Buffalo Bird Women’s Garden : by Gilbert Wilson
• The One Straw Revolution: by Masanobu Fukuoka
• Managing Cover Crops Profitably 3rd Edition
• A Sand County Almanac: by Aldo Leopold
• Soil Biology Primer: by Elaine Ingham
• Life in the Soil: by James Nardi
• An Agricultural Testament: by Sir Albert Howard
• Dirt – The Erosion of Civilizations: by David Montgomery
www.menokenfarm.comClick on the Learn tab.
• Early Settlement of North Dakota: by Clement Lounsberry
• 1491: by Charles Mann
Contact Information:Jay FuhrerSoil Health SpecialistNatural Resources Conservation ServiceBismarck, ND
Mailing address:ND State Office220 East Rosser AvenuePO Box 1458Bismarck, North Dakota USA58502-1458
Email address:[email protected]
Telephone:1-701-530-2011 (O)1-701-426-8611 (C)
Websites:NRCS/USDAhttps://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/site/nd/home/
Menoken Farmhttp://menokenfarm.com/
USDA IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY PROVIDER, EMPLOYER, and LENDER
